Gina and Steven Brown met 50 years in the past in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, the place they grew up across the nook from one another. It might be one other 49 years earlier than they married.
“We’ve recognized one another since we have been 5 and 6 years previous,” mentioned Mrs. Brown, now 55. “He all the time likes to inform the story that he used to return to my home and play with my youthful brother.”
The 2 went on a number of dates throughout school — she typically got here dwelling from Syracuse College, whereas he was at Lengthy Island College — however finally fell out of contact. He moved to North Carolina, the place he owned a clothes retailer and began a household, whereas she turned an actual property agent in New York, married, had a son and acquired a multifamily dwelling in Prospect Heights.
20 years handed earlier than they’d reconnect. Her marriage resulted in 2010, and he moved again to Brooklyn after his personal separation.
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“I knew that I used to be coming again to New York, so I used to be simply on Fb and I noticed an image of Gina,” mentioned Mr. Brown, 56. “I hadn’t seen her in years and I mentioned to myself, ‘Wow.’”
Mrs. Brown, who’s an entrepreneur and now an proprietor, alongside along with her husband, of the life-style model myBKlife, was dwelling on her personal for the primary time when she acquired an sudden message on Fb. “I keep in mind saying to my mom, ‘What may he presumably need in spite of everything this time?’ That was 10 years in the past, and we now have been inseparable ever since.”
The couple married final summer time, and Mrs. Brown noticed her son off to school within the fall. The brand new lovebirds had an empty nest, so that they determined to promote the home in Prospect Heights and use the proceeds to purchase an house. They settled on a price range of $1 million and labored with Matthew Scott, a dealer at Serhant, who dealt with each side of the deal.
The Browns had a number of high-priority gadgets on their wishlist. “They knew they wished a apartment and wished a brand new constructing with facilities,” Mr. Scott mentioned. “They wished not less than two bedrooms, and Gina wanted not less than two loos. That was a nonnegotiable. She was uninterested in sharing a rest room along with her son.”
The home in Prospect Heights had devoted parking, and the couple wished the identical perk of their new constructing. They usually had yet another very particular requirement acquainted to many New Yorkers: “We additionally wanted a bodega close by,” Mrs. Brown mentioned. “And a very good bodega, you understand what I imply?”
They centered their search on the east facet of Prospect Park, primarily Prospect Lefferts Gardens and Crown Heights, and checked out a number of new apartment complexes inside biking distance of inexperienced areas. “We now have bikes, so we knew we wished one thing very accessible to the parks,” Mr. Brown mentioned.
Amongst their choices:
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